Infections of febrile neutropenic patients in malignant hematological diseases

We observed 71 febrile, neutropenic episodes in 25 oncohematological patients after chemotherapy during a 3-years period from 1995 to 1997. Three patients died because of infections (pneumonia with septic shock, Gram-negative bacteremia and sepsis, pseudomembranous colitis and diffuse peritonitis) at the period of prolonged, deep neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count < 100/mm(3)). During the 71 febrile, neutropenic episodes, we observed 24 bacteremia (33.8%) and 1 fungemia (1.4%). There were 35 cases of microbiologically documented and 12 cases of clinically documented infections. In 24 patients, the origin of fever was unknown. We analyzed the characteristics of infections, microbes and their susceptibility conditions, and the efficacy of empiric antimicrobial therapy.